Traditional speech network circuits for telephone sets have been constructed with a hybrid transformer, designed to provide some degree of isolation between signals that are simultaneously transmitted and received over a two-wire telephone line. The elimination of hybrid transformers by using an electronic speed network results in a considerable size and weight reduction, while providing the opportunity for improvements in telephone system performance.
Various such electronic speech networks have been proposed in the past, some utilizing the gyrator principle while others are based on a bridge configuration, to provide the necessary anti-sidetone network for the telephone set. One such circuit which is based on this latter concept is disclosed in Canadian Pat. No. 843,513 entitled: "Non-Reactive Anti-Sidetone Network for a Telephone Set"; invented by Roger E. Holtz, issued June 2, 1970. A common problem with these prior art circuits is that they are not able to work in parallel with the conventional hybrid transformer telephones in long-loop applications, because the heavy current drain of the latter reduces the available voltage on the line to the point where the electronic network ceases to function. In general, this results from the circuit arrangement which necessitates some form of regulation or isolation connected in series with the semiconductor amplifiers of the network. As a result, the accumulative voltage drops encountered across the several semiconductor devices connected in series across the telephone line, limits the minimum applied voltage to the telephone set at which it will continue to operate. Consequently electronic speech networks have not generally been used in telephones in the past because they did not have the capability to work in parallel with a traditional hybrid set.